Amazon Severs Ties With Top Lobbying Firms in Washington

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From Bloomberg:

Amazon.com Inc. cut ties with Washington’s biggest lobbying firm and brought on new advisers following passage of the tax overhaul bill last year and in the face of new challenges in the age of President Donald Trump.

The shakeup occurred last Friday, a week before Trump briefly sent Amazon’s stock tumbling with a Twitter attack on the world’s largest online retailer. Trump charged that Amazon doesn’t pay enough in state and local sales taxes, hurts retailers and gets an unfair edge on the back of the U.S. Postal Service.

Amazon ended its relationship with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, the law firm that attracts more lobbying revenue than any other K Street operation, and Squire Patton Boggs, last Friday.

. . . .

For years, Amazon has been working to steer its image from that of a cut-throat internet giant wreaking havoc on Main Street to that of a job-creation machine that invests billions in new warehouses and offices, hires people by the thousands and helps small businesses grow by letting them sell products on its popular web store.

In recent months, however, the company has faced a shifting landscape in Washington. Trump has aimed repeated Twitter barbs at Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, which has been critical of his administration. Attacks by the president have coincided with calls for scrutiny by outside groups that say Amazon has gotten too big and should be investigated for anti-competitive practices.

. . . .

Driven by the need to tackle regulatory and legislative hurdles to its ever-expanding business lines, Amazon has increased its lobbying spending more than 400 percent in the last five years, shelling out nearly $13 million in 2017, according to the disclosures. It lobbied more government agencies than any other tech company, the records show, making its presence felt from Congress and the White House to NASA as it outspent all of its peers except for Google.

Link to the rest at Bloomberg

PG wonders if Bezos considered the potential business cost to Amazon arising from his ownership of The Washington Post before he bought the newspaper.

Owning the Post hasn’t shielded Amazon from political attacks from the Left over issues such as the company’s hostility toward labor unions for its warehouse workforce. Now the company is taking hits from a Republican president who is apparently sensitive to repeated attacks from the newspaper.

5 thoughts on “Amazon Severs Ties With Top Lobbying Firms in Washington”

  1. I don’t think the buy out of the Washington post has much to do with the current wave of criticism though it could certainly be a useful excuse, because there were rumblings about Amazon becoming too big long before the post was bought out.
    I think where much of the criticism is coming through is that Amazon has a perception attached to it of being a multinational corporation that has swept aside the more family owned businesses of the past, and services like Amazon Prime helping to erode community and family bonds.

    • Nothing brings family together like sharing Prime perks. 😉
      (And Kindle libraries.)
      Amazon encourages it.

      Without getting too political, the preferred policies of Amazon critics have done more harm to families and communities than Amazon ever could. And we were all warned it would happen but nobody listened. Look up the bio of Daniel Patrick Moynihan and the flak he took back in the 60’s from his own party.

  2. I like how they ignored B&N and Walmart when they were driving others out of business, but now that Amazon’s doing it it’s a bad thing.

    I say again that any rule or law they make/change will end up hurting consumers and other companies more than they will Amazon.

  3. Amazon, Facebook or Google had no problems under Obama, but now they see the fallout of a Trump White House. Political preferences of each company has consequences. In my opinion businesses should stay neutral. But the new-era-businesses lead by progressive people who believe that is their role with the help of their money to change the society may see benefits or most likely repercussions for their acts. Time will tell, but no matter the political beliefs, the politicians will not allow any business to become more influential than the government.

  4. Jeff Bezos owns Amazon. Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post. The Washington Post’s op-ed columnists — including conservative writers George Will, Jennifer Rubin, Michael Gerson, and Kathleen Parker — are all highly critical of President Trump. Donald Trump cannot abide any criticism of him. Donald Trump hopes he can hit back at Jeff Bezos by damaging Amazon’s bottom line.

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